Carter's Inheritance
by actionman81
Summary: Peggy's on an undercover mission at the Arena Club, but someone's trailing her. Can she figure out before it's too late?


1949

Los Angeles

Daniel Sousa leaned back in his office chair. The weekend was nearly here and he was looking forward to spending it with Peggy. Of course, he saw her every day at work, but the two had had to keep their relationship quiet. In cases like this, with office romances, as it were, one person was forcibly moved to another location, and he remembered hearing a few instances from Violet where some were fired just to keep things on par.  
He didn't have much time to think. The phone rang. He answered it, and straightened up in his chair when Colonel Phillips spoke through the other end of the line  
"Sir" Sousa nearly saluted over the phone  
"Sousa" Phillips got to the point, "Check your newspaper. The Arena club is getting ready to play poker, but mark my words, it won't be for simply money. I want you to send in your best to check on them and make sure that they don't try to – well, take control of the world"  
"Yes, of course sir"  
"The best" Phillips reiterated, "You know exactly who I mean"  
Daniel knew, all too well. He smiled, and was glad the Colonel couldn't see him do it. He put the phone back on the cradle.  
Daniel looked at the newspaper and nodded, the Colonel had been right. "The Arena Club is holding a card tournament" he spoke to no one, "I better get on this" he grabbed his crutch, stood, and walked into the bullpen, "Peggy" he called.  
Peggy Carter glanced up from her paperwork. A newspaper lay on her desk, along with a myriad of other papers and notes.  
Daniel continued, "Can I see you for a moment?"  
Peggy smiled and walked into his office. Daniel shut the door behind him  
"Yes Chief" the corner of her mouth turned up into a wry smile, "Anything you need?"  
"I was looking over this article on the Arena Club" he began  
"They've got to be up to something" she interjected, "they're normally quiet and keep to themselves, unless they're trying to lean on someone else with power"  
"Yeah" he nodded, "I was going to say that, but" he stopped  
"You'd like me to do something about it?" she meant the Arena Club  
"Yeah" he agreed, "but I'd need a man to go undercover and stake things out" he explained, "Phillips wants me to send in my best" he looked right at her  
"That is a problem" Peggy bit her lip. Daniel couldn't tell if she was mocking him, or if she really saw it as something serious  
"I could just have another agent go in" he suggested  
"Stop playing around, Daniel" Peggy was serious  
"My hands are tied. The Arena Club is men only, and even though you're the best here, I really can't send you in again. Besides, they know you"  
"You could go in yourself" she smiled saucily  
"Sure, and I would stick out like a sore thumb" he tapped his crutch with his available hand  
"You're the one who called me in"  
"True enough" he nodded, "You're going in. Colonel's orders"

The tournament was set for that night, and Peggy was decked out in a spectacular black shimmery evening gown. Edwin Jarvis arrived, promptly, dressed in a formal tuxedo. "Since our earlier—adventures" he began, "I do hope this goes uncharacteristically smoothly"  
"I'm sure it will be, Mr. Jarvis" Peggy tucked a few essentials in her purse, including her 102 Sweet Dreams lipstick.  
"For Ana's sake" Jarvis began, but never finished. He seemed to be lost in thought for a moment  
"Are you familiar with poker, Mr. Jarvis?" she looked up from her handbag  
"I am quite adept in a multitude of card games" Jarvis seemed a hint offended, "Although something called craps seems a bit vulgar for my tastes"  
"Splendid" she snapped her purse shut and took his arm as they made their way out of her apartment to one of Howard's cars

At the Arena Club, the staff was getting ready for the card tournament. The event was a thinly veiled change for some major gambling to occur. In the inner meeting room of the club, the Council met for an impromptu meeting.  
"I've been reading a paper by Dr. Fennhoff" Hugh Jones began, "It was very interesting. It seems that his – hypnotism as it was, was simply a precursor for something that he called The One"  
"What the hell is that?" Mortimer Hayes looked confused  
"From what I could tell" Jones explained, "a way to channel a person's thoughts. If Stark's Midnight Oil made people go insane, berserk, kill each other, let alone tear each other limb from limb, then this concept of The One might work even better"  
"Why bother telling us all this now?"  
"I've been doing some work with some—hired brains as it were" he left the term intentionally vague, "And they've come up with something" he held up a metal box. A set of lighted butons on one side blinked on and off, while a dial on the top took up the bulk of that panel. A nozzle on the end appeared to have been taken from some sort of gun.  
"So that thing shoots people?"  
"Precisely" Jones agreed, "except instead of bullets, it does this" he turned it on and aimed it at Hayes. Jones turned the dial and pressed one of the buttons.  
Mortimer Hayes stood up, deftly picked up a stapler off the table, and made his way towards the other members of the Council  
"What the hell is going on?" someone shouted  
"Stop him. He's gone mad" another yelled  
Jones turned the dial down, and pressed one button so that instead of being lit, it darkened.  
Mortimer Hayes dropped the stapler, and leaned wearily against the table  
"That, gentlemen" Jones smiled, "is that The One can do. It can take any normal person, channel their brain waves, their emotions, to have them do our bidding"  
"So, what? We get people to kill each other over cards?"  
"No." Jones smiled with malice, "the SSR will no doubt send someone to check on us. My hope is, they'll send their best"  
"And then?"  
"Then" he patted his new toy, "She will see what we are made of"  
At the SSR, another agent was on the phone. She was a bit winded. The flight from New York City had tired her out.  
"You know what to do" Colonel Philips instructed  
"Yes sir. Follow Agent Carter. Follow her, but do not let her know that she's being followed" she nodded  
"Good" he responded, "remember, consider this an observation exercise" he hung up.  
She smiled, "It's what I live for"

At the Arena Club, Jarvis and Peggy walked into the grand foyer. The card tournament was an event when the club uncharacteristically allowed women as part of the congregation. Howard would have loved being here tonight. Peggy scanned the room, half wondering if Howard had taken the opportunity to put a few more notches on his proverbial belt.  
Jarvis, too, looked around, worried that Torrance might spot him.  
Peggy saw Hugh Jones, Mortimer Hayes, amongst other Council members, and began making her way toward them. Jarvis followed.  
Suddenly, Peggy froze. Not out of fear, but out of recognition  
"There" she whispered, when Jarvis noticed her, "It's her"  
"Dottie Underwood?" Jarvis uttered, a hair too loud  
Dottie turned from her conversation partner, and toward the direction where her name had been called  
"Quick" Peggy spun Jarvis around with one motion, and hurriedly kissed him in another. His face was now turned away from Dottie, and Peggy's face was obscured by Jarvis'  
Dottie looked away, apparently bored by the kissing couple  
Peggy pulled away abruptly. Jarvis stared at her  
"What is it?" she looked worried  
"I am simply wondering how to explain this to Ana" Jarvis wasn't giving Peggy a jab, or being cruel. He was simply stating a fact  
"All in the line of work" Peggy quipped and moved forward towards Jones. Damn him to hell if he remembered her, but she was going to find out what was going on, one way or another.  
Around her, the different tables played a myriad of card games, yet all were betting for money, or other tangible items. The men were gambling, with assorted women crowded around each of them, cheering them on.  
Jones looked to his left, and noticed Peggy before she saw his gaze. He knew exactly how to handle this.

At SSR, Daniel fidgeted in his office. "I don't like this" he spoke to Peggy's photograph on his desk. Of course, the photo didn't answer, but Daniel stared at it as if it would. There was no point calling her house, for she wasn't there. Calling the Arena Club would be ludicrous, as that might put her in more jeopardy. He grabbed his crutch off the hook and stood up. He couldn't just sit here and wait for her to contact him, but first, he had to stop and talk to Samberly

"As I was saying" Jones spoke in soft tones to Mortimer Hayes, "the low frequency of this device allows people all over the club to make rash choices. They're all acting in less cautious ways. Nobody is immune" he smiled  
"Even yourself?"  
"This" he pointed to the protrusions sticking out of his ear, "will help me. I've got one of these in each ear"  
Hayes squinted at the protrusions, "What are they?"  
"Lead earplugs"  
Jones inconspicuously pointed the device at the card players and turned the dial up a notch. Within moments, the card players all began betting slightly higher amounts, and began making rasher decisions.  
Hugh Jones smiled.

At SSR, Daniel sat on a stool and laid his crutch on the table for Samberly to see  
"Can you do it?" he pushed a roughly drawn schematic toward the scientist  
"Sure" he replied, "but it might take some time"  
"Time is one thing that I don't have much of" he slipped the doctor a piece of pie  
"Did Rose make this?"  
"If she did, will you work faster?" Daniel quipped  
Samberly grinned  
"Sure, she made it" Daniel had no idea if this was even true.

The agent from New York arrived at the Arena Club. Rather than go through the front door, she slipped through an open window and made her way from an unused storage room to the library. Then she backtracked her way toward the main hall, where the card tournament was well under way. Dressed in a fashionable pantsuit, she wasn't really in proper attire for the event, but she had slipped in without being seen. Her next objective was to locate Agent Peggy Carter.

Daniel arrived at the Arena Club. On his lapel was a stolen club pin, from a previous case involving Dottie Underwood, and his crutch had been modified for this mission. He didn't have time to worry if the alterations would work or not. In any event, he simply had to get in, make sure Peggy was alright, and hopefully keep her from lecturing him. God, how he loved her, but he didn't want to be in the proverbial doghouse over his feelings.

Peggy was nearly at Jones, when she saw a glint of metal out of the corner of her eye  
"No, it couldn't be" she thought. She turned, and from across the room, she saw him. Daniel, plain as day, dressed in his work attire, with an Arena Club pin affixed to his jacket lapel. She sighed, and made her way back through the crowd to talk to him.

"Will you excuse me a moment" Hugh Jones pulled himself away from Mortimer Hayes and the other men, and walked upstairs. The female Agent he'd seen was meeting with the chief of the SSR, and it gave him a grand idea. He turned down the power on the device, as he needed to be able to concentrate a higher degree of energy for this impromptu plan to work.

Peggy located Daniel and dragged him into a hallway. She glanced up, and saw a balcony overlooking the hallway, but nobody was there. Finally, she dug into Daniel, though not the way he might have hoped for.  
"What is going on, Daniel?"  
"I was just worried about you" he admitted  
"Worried? I've taken down an entire team of highly trained government agents"  
"Yeah, I know" he agreed, "You also ran off instead of letting me question you, that day"  
"So, you don't trust me anymore, is that it?" she fumed at him  
"It's not that" he started, "I never thought that you and I – we – we" he halted  
"We? Daniel, this is one of the worries I had about us being together. It's what the SSR has regulations about, because two agents who are romantically linked can be a liability for a case, let alone the prospect of preferential treatment" she sighed, exasperated, "I love you. You know that"  
"I love you, too" he smiled  
"And that is where the problem lies. Either we will have to remain professional at work, and on missions, or, the SSR may simply suggest that one of us be sent to another department, or even another location"  
Daniel sighed. He understood regulations and rules, and he knew that his Peggy wasn't above breaking them, but she had a point, that this, their relationship could jeopardize this mission, let alone other missions in the future. Something would have to be done about it.  
"Thank you for being concerned. It means that you care" she smiled and squeezed his available hand "but 'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself" she pulled out her pistol from it's concealed hiding place, "see?" she brandished the pistol to show him.  
At that moment, Hugh Jones turned up the dial slightly, and pointed the device at Peggy, downstairs. Torrance noticed his supervisor, and came by to see what was happening.  
"What are you doing, sir?" Torrance glanced at Jones  
"Just watch" he pointed the machine at Peggy, who was downstairs, conversing with Daniel, "when I turn the knob this far" he dialed the machine to eight, "she'll be forced to attack the first person she comes in contact with" he grinned, "not so high and might now, are we, Agent?"  
"Come" Jones motioned for the two men to leave, "I don't wish to lose my appetite by seeing Chief Sousa's brains all over the carpet" they walked off, leaving Peggy to battle Daniel.  
Downstairs, Peggy's demeanor shifted dramatically. She looked down at the pistol, and then up at Daniel. She trained the gun on him, and moved forward a step.  
Daniel immediately realized that something was wrong  
"Peggy" Daniel looked warily at her, "It's me, it's Daniel—Sousa" he leaned on his crutch and held up his available hand to show he was unarmed  
Peggy said nothing. She just stared at him with dark, unfeeling eyes  
"I don't want to hurt you" Daniel spoke. He wasn't really issuing a warning. Rather, he was actually concerned about hurting her. Despite whatever had happened to her, somewhere inside this person intent to kill him was Peggy, his Peggy. She moved forward, almost mechanically, methodically, towards him.  
"I—uh" he faltered, looking between her eyes and her pistol, which was trained on him. He backed away slowly, but the farther he backed away, the closer she edged, the gun all the time pointed right at his solar plexus.  
Daniel sighed. He had one shot, one chance to make this work. He took careful aim, judging how far his crutch might reach, coupled with his arm length, how far she was from him, how far her reach was, and with that pistol aimed at him. Daniel leaned on his good leg, braced his available arm, and swung his crutch in a wide arc, wide enough to for his movement to be figuratively telegraphed to anyone coming toward him, but quick enough to do the needful. The rubber bung of the crutch made contact with Peggy's pistol, smacked it out of her grip, and sent the weapon careening and clattering along the floor, well out of her reach.  
The shock of the blow must have been enough to break her out of her trance. Peggy blinked a few times and stared at Daniel, now with fresh eyes, and a look of bewilderment.  
"What the bloody blue blazes are you standing here for?" she frowned at him  
Daniel smiled nervously, "I'm glad you asked" he sighed with relief

Jones and Torrance continued down the hallway, headed to the stairs. They didn't see the mousy slight woman waiting in the shadows of the curtains. She simply slipped a foot out of the curtain and tripped Jones as he walked. The device flew out of his hands and crashed to the floor, irreparably broken  
Jones got to his feet and turned, but the curtains seemed as lifeless as ever. Torrance searched the curtains, and felt something. He dragged out the woman, who he held by her arm. Her other arm, however shot out at his throat and he was taken by surprise. He fell over and clutched at his windpipe. She turned and gave him a swift kick in his face, and then shifted her attention to Jones. The man, older though he was, had a lot of fight left in him, but she was quicker, and struck him in his solar plexus. The impact threw him off balance and when he fell to his knees, she threw a low punch right between his eyes. Jones and Torrance lay on the floor, like a pair of rag dolls. The woman, a SSR agent, slipped downstairs. She did her best to remain incognito, and most of the club attendees didn't notice her. Daniel had spotted Jarvis and the two men were talking. Peggy was on the lookout for Hugh Jones, but spotted someone else instead.  
"Angie" she stared at the woman, dressed in a dark pantsuit  
Angie froze and stared at Peggy. Her cover was blown. Angie sighed and made her way forward, "You got me, English" she smiled, "I've got a lot to tell you, but maybe it can wait. I'm on the clock"  
"On the cl— No" Peggy stopped midsentence. How could she have missed it? She had barely spoken with Angie since moving to Los Angeles, and her relationship with Daniel had taken up a bulk of personal time. It seemed clear that once Angie had learned of Peggy's secret, she'd either applied for a job opening, or had been scouted and hired. Could Jack have been the one to suggest her to Colonel Phillips? The questions loomed large in her mind.  
Peggy glanced up from her thoughts just in time. Across the room, she spied Dottie Underwood.  
"We'll have to cut this short, Angie" she smiled, "there's something that needs our pressing attention" Angie turned around and saw Dottie, "All of our attention" Peggy emphasized  
The four slowly made their way across the room, trying to look inconspicuous. Jarvis, during the walk through the club's main hall, had pocketed his wristwatch, and other trinkets, in the hopes that Dottie wouldn't purloin them, as she'd done before. Daniel gripped his crutch, ready to use it as a weapon if needed. Those modifications might come in handy after all.  
Dottie had her back to the group, and Peggy took advantage of a moment of surprise. She pressed something narrow and hard against Dottie's back, "Don't think I won't shoot you right here, in a room full of people who are too rich, and too spoilt to care about you"  
"Oh, Peggy, you wouldn't stoop that low" Dottie's voice dripped like syrup  
"You're right" Angie interjected, "She wouldn't, but I would" she pressed the item harder into Dottie's back, "This is for getting my best friend arrested"  
Peggy and Angie pulled Dottie back into a secluded hallway. Jarvis and Daniel followed them.  
"Without ropes or anything to subdue her with, we seem to be in a bit of a jam" Peggy thought aloud  
"I might be able to be of help" Daniel put his hand forward. "Lie down" he instructed Dottie  
"Are you being fresh with me?" she cooed at Sousa  
"Do it" he was forceful, "Or so help me, I'll make you lie down" he brandished the crutch at her.  
Dottie stood defiantly.  
Daniel raised his crutch to her and pressed the bung to her arm. He then pressed a button on the handle, and Dottie writhed where she stood and fell to the ground in a convulsion  
Jarvis looked aghast. Daniel turned to him, "a light convulsive electric charge. Nothing that won't hurt her, much"  
"Mr. Jarvis, remove your tie, and your belt, you too, Daniel"  
The men dutifully did as instructed and Peggy used the belts and necktie to bind Dottie's limbs so they could transport her back to SSR  
"What about Hugh Jones?" Daniel looked back as they carried Dottie to the car  
"I suppose that next time we'll have to give it welly" Jarvis quipped  
Peggy looked at Angie and Daniel's blank expressions, "Try harder next time" she explained  
There would be a next time. There would always be a next time, as long as there was justice to be fought for.  
"I suppose our friendship would've ended in this" Peggy mused as they pushed Dottie's unconscious body into the vehicle's trunk, "you coming back into my life, Angie, and you training in New York?"  
Angie nodded  
Peggy continued, "Training in New York while I was in Los Angeles. Our friendship is in a way, my inheritance, coming back multiple fold" she smiled at her best friend, and now fellow agent.


End file.
